It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I'm a fan of science fiction. My dad used to tell folks how proud he was to have me propped up beside him watching the original Star Trek on TV. From there is went on to Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica, Lost in Space, Star Wars, Logan's Run, and Star Trek the Next Generation, etc. Dad and I would go to used bookstores when I was a kid, and he'd come away with science fiction and fantasy books from authors like Piers Anthony, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Arthur C. Clarke. Me, I was buying Bobbsey Twins books, but that's a story for another day. I've gone on to introduce my boys to science fiction too. Family tradition and all. They know who The Robot is and Robbie the Robot and what a Cylon is and most importantly to Joey who Data is. Joey is reading the Legend of Droon series of chapter books, and we're on TNG episode 46 of 176 on Netflix streaming. The old bumper sticker, "Everything I need to know about life I learned from Star Trek." just might be true;-) I eagerly wait for the next Star Trek series or movie to come out and mourn the loss of favorite scifi shows like Eureka which was recently cancelled. But no matter what's on TV or what I'm doing in my life, I tend to see things on some sort of spacial and scientific plane. Thanks, Dad!
I've been fooling around taking shots of water beads for a few weeks now. What are those you ask? Well, they are 1/4" diameter or so mushy water soaked bubbles that are often used in floral arrangements in the vases with water or as part of a kid's science experiment. For some, like me, they can also turn into valuable photographic tools. I've had success before with shots like this:
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and:
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The ones I've done recently haven't really been working out I don't think:
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and:
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I hate to give up though, ya know?!?
On Monday, I was working with some clear water beads and another frozen rose, but that was a total fail.
I came back today to try some more shots of just the beads/remnants of the other photo shoot and got some shots like this:
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and:
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I'm on the back deck with my interesting glass top patio table. I liked what I got, but just NOT enough color for me!
From there I went into Picnik and used the Lomo-ish, Orton-ish, Invert, and Circle Splash effects to create these:
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and:
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and:
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and:
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Now that's spacial and that's more like it! Picnik can be pretty cool for some things some times, but I find it hiccups a lot. I lost two images do to it erroring out. Once I saved a picture and half of the .jpg was in error and gray back in Picasa. So use it, but don't get your heart set on the results until things are really saved!
I do understand that some folks will no longer consider these pictures and won't like the abstract shapes, vibrant colors, or theme I've given to these images, and that's OK, but they do appeal to me very much...so much that I almost wish I could turn a wall in my house into one of them!
Other things of interest from yesterday:
It was windy and the butterflies were moving all over the place but I got a few shots. I liked how the light was going through the butterfly wings in some of them.
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Johnny enjoyed open house at his school. He gave me a grand tour of his classroom showing off his artwork and then in Joey's classroom he gave Ms. Miller a lesson on how to use her computer:-)
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Joey also enjoyed open house. He was most proud of his little plant on his desk and excited about the potential of getting into the treasure box. I was impressed with his science journal upper left.
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